Increasingly frequent power cuts and fuel shortages are causing growing
frustration in Uzbekistan, one of the world’s most repressive countries.

Media reports and eyewitnesses have described long queues at petrol stations, power cuts which penetrate into the heart of Tashkent, the capital, and how some regional towns go days without running water.

“People were pissed off with shortages in general,” said a former British Army officer who spent a week in December travelling across Uzbekistan.

“They were frustrated with why there were electricity shortages, why there was no water and why they had to queue up for hours for petrol.”

Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan’s president, has isolated the country of 30 million people and turned it into a virtual police state since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The authorities rarely grant visas to Western journalists and they have expelled the main human rights groups.

But Uzbekistan has also become an important cog in Nato’s supply chain to Afghanistan. Senior commanders view a stable, friendly Uzbekistan as crucial for pulling out military equipment from Afghanistan in 2014.

Related Articles

During an eight-hour taxi journey along the main road between the town of Termez, on Uzbekistan’s southern border with Afghanistan and Tashkent, the former British Army officer counted that roughly 20 out of the 23 petrol stations were boarded up.

“The open petrol stations had queues with hundreds of cars waiting in line,” he said.

The former British Army officer, who fought in Afghanistan, had been travelling through Uzbekistan on an academic research trip. He declined to be named.

Despite the shortages, Mr Karimov has continued to give speeches extolling the various success of the Uzbek economy.

Uzbekistan, which is rich in gas and gold, operates a command economy which is virtually detached from the rest of the world. During the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, the Uzbek economy continued to grow.

Officials have either denied there are shortages or blamed the people for increased gas demand but the UzNews website, which is linked to opposition groups living in Europe, said corruption, mismanagement and failing infrastructure had caused the supply problems.

Some media reports have described growing anger aimed at the authorities.

The former British Army officer, though, disagreed. He said that although people were clearly frustrated, they appeared resigned rather than angry.

“People didn’t appear to know who to blame and they would just shrug,” he said of reaction to the shortages. “It’s a bit like how the British complain about the weather. They would say that it’s terrible and it’s here again.”